Transcript How Birth Order Influences Depression and Substance

How Birth Order Influences Depression and Substance Abuse
Matthew Cabrera and Kaitlyn Hogan
Mount Saint Mary College
Psychology Senior Seminar Research Proposal: Fall 2015
Background
• 7.6% of Americans 12+ are depressed
(Pratt &Brody, 2014).
• Depression includes feelings of:
sadness, lack of energy, low selfworth, and guilt (Comer, 2014).
• Depression and substance abuse are
often correlated (Langille, Asbridge, Cragg, &
• Does birth order have an effect on the likelihood of showing depressive symptoms
and tendency of substance abuse?
• Quasi experimental design
• Hypothesis: The eldest will be most likely to suffer from depression and the
youngest will be more likely to suffer from substance abuse.
(Lipari, Piscopo, Kroutil, & Kilmer Miller, 2015).
Participants
• 100,000 participants 18 and older
• Recruited from Facebook Ad
• Must have two siblings & two married heterosexual, biological parents.
• There is a lot of controversy in the
field over who is more likely to
develop these diagnoses.
• Studies have found firstborns are
more likely to express depressive
symptoms (Carballo et al., 2013).
• Adler believes this is due to being
“dethroned” (Gates, Lineberger, Crockett &
Hubbard, 1988)
• Eckstein et al., (2010) states that the
youngest children are: most likely to
be alcoholics, most rebellious, and
overrepresented with psychiatric
disorders.
• Narrow population (i.e, single parent,
divorced or homosexual parents;
adoptive family).
• With self-report, respondents may not
answer honestly.
Significance
Rasic, 2015)
• According to NSDUH Data Review,
6,677 adults needed drug treatment
and 16,532 needed alcohol treatment
Limitations
Our Study
Procedure
•Age, Gender and
Ordinal Birth
Order
Collect
Demographics
Measure for
Depression
•Becks
Depression
Inventory
(Beck, Steer & Brown, 1996).
•If Necessary
•Hamilton
Rating Scale
(Hamilton, 1980)
Further Measure
for Depression
• This research can help parents decide
how to interact with their children to
shy away from negative outcomes.
• Understanding birth order can raise
awareness of predicting factors.
• Put an end to any controversy over
birth order research.
Measure for
Substance Use
•AUDIT and
DUDIT
(Berman, Bergman, Palmstierna, &
Schlyter, 2003) (Babor, Higgins-Biddle,
Saunders, & Monteiro, 2001, Box 10).
Statistical Analysis
• Multivariate Analysis of Variance
• Independent variable: participant's birth order.
• Dependent variables: presence of (1) substance abuse (2) depression.
Selected References
Babor, T. F., Higgins-Biddle, J. C., Saunders, J. B., & Monteiro, M. G. (2001).AUDIT, the alcohol use
disorders identification test: Guidelines for use in primary health care (2nd ed.). Geneva:
World Health Organization.
Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., & Brown, G. K. (1996). Beck's Depression Inventory. Retrieved from
http://mhinnovation.net/sites/default/files/downloads/innovation/research/BDI%20with%2
0interpretation.pdf
Berman, A. H, PhD, Bergman, H., PhD, Palmstierna, T., PhD, & Schlyter, F., MA. (2003). DUDIT: The
drug use disorders identification test manual. DUDIT.
Carballo, J. J., García-Nieto, R., Álvarez-García, R., Caro Cañizares, I., López-Castromán, J., MuñozLorenzo, L., & Baca-García, E. (2013). Sibship size, birth order, family structure and childhood
mental disorders. Social Psychiatry And Psychiatric Epidemiology, 48, 1327-1333.
doi:10.1007/s00127-013-0661-7
Comer, R. J. (2014). Stress Disorders. In Abnormal psychology (8th ed., pp. 157-162). New York,
NY: Worth Pub.
Eckstein, D., Aycock, K.J., Sperber, M.A., McDonald, J., Van Wiesner III, V., Watts,R.E., Ginsburg, P.
(2010). A review of 200 birth-order studies: lifestyle characteristics. The Journal of Individual
Psychology, 66. University of Texas Press, Austin, TX.
Gates, L., Lineberger, M. R., Crockett, J., & Hubbard, J. (1988). Birth order and its relationship to
depression, anxiety, and self-concept test scores in children. Journal of Genetic
Psychology, 149, 29.
Hamilton, M. (1980). The Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression. Retrieved from
http://healthnet.umassmed.edu/mhealth/HAMD.pdf
Langille, D.B., Asbridge, M., Cragg, A., Rasic, D. (2015). Associations of school connectedness with
adolescent suicidality: gender differences and the role and risk of depression. The Canadian
Journal of Psychology, 60. Nova Scotia, Canada.
Lipari, R., Piscopo, K., Kroutil, L., & Kilmer Miller, G. (2015). Results from the 2014 National Survey
on Drug Use and Health National Findings. SAMHSA.gov.
Pratt, L.A., Brody, D.J. (2014). Depression in the U.S. household population. NCHS Data Brief, 172.
Hyattsville, MD: National health statistics